Let us progress with Himtranslated

One of the many feasts of the Cross, which our Church celebrates, is the Progress of the Holy Cross, on August 1st.

By Sophia Bekri (philologist-theologian)

In Byzantium there was already the custom from the evening of the previous day, July 31, for the Cross to come out of the great Church, that of God Sophia, or from the palace, where it was kept, and for two whole weeks, until the eve of the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, to pre-travel to Vasilevousa, led by the emperor and with the accompanied by a multitude of believers, in honor of the Virgin Mary and for the sanctification and strengthening of the same for the treatment of all evil and the prevention of all disease.

In our days, this memory of the Progress of the Cross is solemnly celebrated, in many churches even with a vigil, as it is also the starting point of our entry into Lent of the great feast of the Dormition. In fact, according to the Apolytikio of the holiday, the faithful are called to accept "with a clear mind the saving weapon of the Cross", Who "comes pre-coming as a gift of divine grace and healing the diseases of soul and body".

The Church's belief in the saving power is well known...